Demand for Blockchain skills is on the rise!
In this Skillta article we will analyse the demand for Blockchain skills in major markets around the world to find out where the associated epicenters of innovation are located.
It is no secret that the level of interest in Blockchain has increased dramatically in recent times. By design the technology provides a high degree of transparency, decentralization, robustness, security and disintermediation, and these qualities have sparked ideas for potential application across an incredibly wide range of areas. For those who are yet to fully understand Blockchain and its disruptive potential here is a very succinct definition:
“The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value” Don & Alex Tapscott, authors of Blockchain Revolution (2016)
The most widely known implementation of Blockchain is through the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. There are now a large number of these ‘cryptos’ being traded around the world each day and the popularity of ICO’s (Initial Coin Offerings) has exploded as companies both large and small look to take advantage of this new avenue for capital raising.
On the entrepreneurial front there are many exciting new companies working on ways to leverage Blockchain across a wide variety of industries. These include the team at BlockPunk who are creating an innovative platform for the creators of film and television to share their content directly with their fans, while at the same time providing a highly differentiated revenue sharing model that has been structured to bring much needed liquidity for financing new projects.
At Skillta our focus is on helping people understand the needs of the employment market around the world. We thought it would be useful to share some insights on the demand for Blockchain skills and where the current hiring hot-spots can be found.
The first thing we will examine is the aggregate demand trend for the sixteen countries that the Skillta platform currently tracks. Clearly the demand for Blockchain skills has risen significantly since the beginning of 2017. Those with experience in this technology and those entering the space for the first time should both find this result encouraging.
Next up we will focus on the breakdown by country. Based on it’s population relative to the United States the United Kingdom is showing a lot of hiring activity in this technology area: perhaps this is a result of London’s continued strength in the Fintech space.
The United States, United Kingdom and India have had the most Blockchain jobs since the start of 2017 (data to 3 March 2018). If we look at the individual trends for each country we can see that they have all been trending upwards, and there has been a noticeable spike in hiring since the start of 2018, particularly in the United States.
Lastly if we look at the % Change for each country over the last 52 weeks* it is actually New Zealand with the greatest rise in demand for Blockchain skills with a 212% gain! The Philippines (+148%), Nigeria (+144%) and Singapore (+83%) returned the next largest increases in demand. The United States (+30%) and the United Kingdom (+20%) also saw strong growth and had a much larger number of job postings than any other market.
* Data to 3 March 2018, comparing the previous 27–52 weeks with the previous 1–26 weeks
If you are an established expert or an aspiring Blockchain superstar we hope you have found these insights useful, particularly if you are considering a move to a different country. Alternatively, if you are looking to hire new talent in this area we hope you now have a better appreciation of where the competition is located which may result in changes to your hiring strategies. We recommend you all create a free Skillta profile to stay on top of the Blockchain market going forward.
We would love to hear any comments or feedback you have and as always we welcome any suggestions for future skill areas that you would like us to cover.
In our next article, at the request of one of Asia’s leading universities, we will be analysing the demand for Finance skills in Hong Kong!
All the best, Team Skillta.
